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HomeNews UNFPA Tanzania honored the life of the late ED, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin

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UNFPA Tanzania honored the life of the late ED, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin

21 June 2017

The Late ED Dr.Babatunde with UNFPA TCO Staff Felister Bwana and Dr.Hashina Begum

FP2020 is governed by a Reference Group, which sets the overall strategic direction and drives coordination among the partnership’s stakeholders. The Reference Group members are drawn from governments, multilateral organizations, civil society, donor agencies, and the private sector, and are accountable for ensuring that 120 million more women and girls have access to voluntary family planning information, services and contraceptives by the year 2020.

Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA; visited Tanzania 30th October 2016 - 03 November 2016: during the FP2020 Meeting, Tanzania was a venue, and he was a Reference Group Co-Chair and a key speaker at the event, The event took place 02 November 2016, in Serena Hotel, Dar es salaam.

Tanzania is committed to ensure strong political commitment to family planning at all levels, increase national financing for family planning commodities as well as to strengthen contraceptive commodity security.

This was said by the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children, Ummy Ally Mwalimu during the launch of Family Planning 2020 (FP2020)'s annual progress report titled Momentum at the Midpoint 2015-2016, held at Serena Hotel in Dar es Salaam 02 November 2016.

She added that the country is truly determined to meet the commitments which it put forward in the London Summit 2012, and to achieve this they are working alongside civil societies, donors, the private sectors and other development partners to ensure that women and girls, no matter where they are, whether in rural or urban areas, have access to family planning commodities.

"We are also very proud to be one of the first commitment makers in family planning. Since the London Family Planning Summit in 2012, family planning is now included in Tanzanian second five-year development plan 2016 to 2021.

"That is a very important milestone because when we talk of the Tanzania we want, we want to become a middle-income country, where family planning has been taken as one of the ingredients to enable the country to achieve that," Said Ms Mwalimu.

She added that there has been progress when it comes to use of modern contraceptives by youths in the country. "We have seen quite a big progress, for example at national level, before the London Summit, the number of women who were using modern contraceptives was 27 per cent, and right now, it's about 32 per cent. We also saw an increase in the use of modern contraceptives in the Lake and Western regions, where use of family planning products rose from 10per cent to 29per cent.

"We are also very proud to say that we have reached nearly 100,000 additional users of family planning since the London Summit in 2012, and for the first time ever, we have a budget line added for family planning."

Addressing the same gathering (FP 2020 Reference Group) , the late Executive Director, United Nations population Fund, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin said, "The purpose of the report is to share progress made in Africa since global leaders committed, in July 2012, to provide 120 million more women and girls with access to family planning information and services by 2020." He added that the report indicates that for the first time, the number of women and girls using modern contraception in the world's 69 FP2020 focus countries has reached 300 million. "The data featured in the report reveal noteworthy accomplishments as well as some significant challenges for the partnership.More than 30 million additional women and girls compared to 2012 now can use contraceptives across the 69 focus countries," he said.

Speaking with UNFPA Tanzania staff at Tanzania Country office 30th October 2016, the Late ED Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin in recognition of the importance of investing in young people, and most especially teenage girls, reflected on Goals 3, 4, 5 and 8 of Agenda 2030. UNFPA's late Executive Director, Dr Babtunde Osotimehin refers to the call made by Agenda 2030 to leave no one behind and says “To reach those furthest behind, leaders and communities must focus on and stand up for the human rights of the most marginalized teenage girls (10 year old), particularly those who are poor, out of school, exploited, or subjected to harmful traditional practices, including child marriage. Marginalized girls are vulnerable to poor reproductive health and more likely to become mothers while still children themselves. They have a right to understand and control their own bodies and shape their own lives.”